"Wait a minute! General, please."

"I surrender, I surrender..."

Merka was pressed to the ground, his cheek against the wood chips, desperately turning his head to look in Mulan's direction.

At this moment, Merka had already dropped his defensive stance, revealing his true posture. He seemed to have completely lost his fighting spirit, smiling ingratiatingly at Mulan, begging for mercy.

"Listen to me, I know where Altria is hiding."

"I can lead you there, as long as you spare me."

"I mean, the money Turing gave me is not enough for a lifetime anyway. I don't have to sell my life, right?"

Mulan frowned, raising her hand to signal the doppelganger to let Merka kneel and talk properly.

"Indeed, a Curseborn, despicably low."

"Go on."

"I have already found Turing, your condition won't save your life."

Merka's eyes tightened, and if not for his fake eye, his shrunken pupils would have already betrayed his astonishment.

Found who? Samael?

No, he might be lying, I can't lose my composure.

"Well... well, that's okay, I have another secret."

"In fact, Turing is not really in the rear mountains right now."

Mulan's jaw moved, anger gradually creeping onto her face. She approached aggressively, grabbing Merka's collar fiercely.

"What did you say?"

"Don't... don't get angry, General."

"What I mean is, although Turing is here, it's as if he isn't."

"Forgive me for being frank, but if you activate the plan now, it will definitely end in failure."

"But, if you spare me, I will definitely help you lure Turing out."

"A true Curseborn should be like you, and I have decided to switch sides... would you agree?"

Mulan pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised her hand to strike Merka's face.

Merka closed his eyes out of fear, turned his head, and clenched his teeth.

"Hmph, you're not still in contact with Turing, are you?"

"It's absolutely impossible, General."

"Then hand over the relic to me."

"Sigh, General..."

Mulan reached out to remove the necklace on Merka's neck, and Merka struggled desperately.

But like a solid fortress, the two doppelgangers held Merka firmly, not allowing him to succeed, still firmly controlling him.

In the blink of an eye, Mulan broke Merka's necklace. Looking at the crystal in her hand that looked similar to a relic, Mulan infused it with a bit of magic, but didn't feel any traces of magic inside.

"This isn't a relic, is it?"

"Then, what about this earring..."

Mulan looked up at Merka's face again, noticing the neatly arranged three gemstone earrings by his ear.

But suddenly, Mulan's vision blurred, and a dizzying darkness enveloped her brain like a signal, attacking her.

The last thing Mulan saw was Merka's confident smile.

Finally realizing what was about to come, Mulan's last trace of sanity was completely shattered.

It was the thing she had been familiar with her whole life—

Pain, earth-shattering pain.

The vast sea of fire roared and flew towards her, and the wind of death and decay blew, causing the Amaryllis flowers to bloom all over the mountains on the other side.

In her hallucination, Mulan seemed to see the divine being high above, saying something to her.

Every cell in her body shattered in response.

"Is the reactor working?"

"I hope he didn't inject too much magic, otherwise he might even die."

The two clones on both sides completely lost consciousness along with Mulan curled up in pain and fell down with a loud crash. It didn't take much effort for Merka to break free from their restraints.

"Should we take his sacred relic?"

Merka stared intently at the golden necklace on Mulan's neck.

"No, it's too late."

"I'll just go and destroy that water jug directly, and everything will be fine."

Merka thought of this and spread out his huge wings, flying towards the direction of the giant machine from before at top speed.

Halfway through the flight, however, Merka was dumbfounded. His magic detected dozens of Curseborn already stationed beside the machine.

In just the short time Mulan and he fought, almost everyone in the team had returned.

"Are they all here?"

Merka counted, and indeed, they were all here.

"Does this Mulan really… need to fight me like this?"

"But since everyone is here, it means he doesn't have any other machines."

"He doesn't have any more tricks up his sleeve."

"To be so cautious, I'm afraid being too smart ends up being stupid."

Merka arrived beside the machine, landed calmly, and used the little magic he had left to transform into Mulan's appearance.

"General." "There's nothing abnormal here."

Merka nodded towards the crowd who greeted him warmly, not daring to make any extra movements. He was afraid that any unnecessary actions would further drain his magic.

Without saying a word, Merka walked quietly towards the water jug next to the machine.

Just as everyone looked at each other, not knowing what the General was up to, Merka suddenly exploded, exerting all the strength he had, driving out every ounce of magic in his body.

"Turing..."

"Give me strength."

The flickering white flames ignited again at the tips of Merka's hair, but this time, they carried an even more ferocious and sacred aura.

Merka's arms became sharp and terrifying. He leaped up, forcefully thrusting his spear-like hand towards the glass on the water jug.

But the jug didn't shatter. Its glass layer was much thicker than it appeared. Although Merka had pierced it solidly, the cracks remained within a small range without spreading.

"How... is this possible?"

"Can glass hardness reach such a level?"

Merka looked back and saw the astonished expressions of the people around him, immediately wanting to cancel the dropback.

But it was too late. Dropback instantly drained the portion of magic that belonged to Joan.

Merka's magic was forcibly lifted, and the Curseborns, who saw Merka's true form, quickly reacted. All sorts of spells echoed in Merka's ears like a symphony.

What should I do... Should I try again with the remaining magic power from the shepherd?

Merka looked at the glass layer in front of them that their whole arm couldn't pierce through, sighed discontentedly.

I lost this round.

Let's consider a long-term plan.

Mulang is so suspicious. Since he heard that sentence from me, he won't activate the machine immediately.

Turing is no longer in the back mountain, and waking up Jade won't be of any use.

Merka glanced at the sea of red light flickering behind them, turned into a cloud of smoke, and quickly fled.